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  • Change in Web site navigation drops PageRank to zero?

Change in Web site navigation drops PageRank to zero?

September 28, 2011 / Dave Taylor / SEO & Marketing / 1 Comment

We changed our website recently and also changed the menus on it so some of our pages have a different path now. For about 2-3 weeks after the switch we noticed our Google Analytics fell off, then we checked mypagerank.net and out page ranks had gone from 3, 4, or 5 to 0 on some of the pages. Our web designer is being somewhat cryptic about why this happened. Can you explain what would cause this and if our page rank will go back up or do we need to do something?

That’s an interesting question. The first thing I wonder is whether you switched from a basic HTML menu or navigational system to one where it’s fancy JavaScript or even Flash-based menus. If so, and if you don’t also have a site map, it’s possible that Googlebot simply can’t find the pages any more. First step is to go read up on sitemaps on the Google Webmaster Guidelines, then check to see if you have one and whether it’s automatically updated each time you tweak things.
Google’s gotten more sophisticated at parsing content and understanding more complex navigation, but as all SEO folk know, Adobe Flash is problematic in a bunch of ways, one of which is that generally Google ignores it when analyzing a Web page. (another reason people dislike it is because no Apple iOS devices render and play Flash properly, including all those millions of iPads)
I’m troubled by your coy Webmaster. This is something they should know about: any decent Webmaster or web developer in this day and age should also know at least the basics of SEO and that’s what we’re talking about here, not PNG vs JPG or CSS vs HTML. If they’ve implemented your menu system using a system that’s not search engine-friendly, that’s a conversation you need to be able to have with them so you can find a resolution.
I will note that there are non-Flash, non-Javascript menu systems that can work well. Indeed, the menu bar and pull-down menus on the top of this very page are implemented purely in CSS and are very search engine friendly. It’s doable. 🙂
Regardless of the code behind your menu system, however, a proper site map can mitigate a lot of the adverse consequences, and it’s a good idea anyway.
I’ll add one thought: closely monitoring your ranking can be the path to insanity. There are so many different factors that influence PageRank and so much more to search engine results (SERPs, as we SEO types call it) than just the PageRank value that Google reports (which might or might not be accurate in the first place) that thinking that you’ve done X and it produces Y is rather more of a fool’s game than anything else, at least in my opinion.
I hope this all helps you figure out what’s going on!

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Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

One comment on “Change in Web site navigation drops PageRank to zero?”

  1. Dan says:
    October 2, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    So, maybe the new site is flash- or java-based instead of basic HTML, eh?
    Well, if it is…..BURN IN HELL! I hate those sites! They DESERVE a page rank of -1,000,000!
    Restaurants and bands are the worst offenders. As soon as I try to load a website and I see a “loading” progress bar you better believe I am clicking the back button before the bar hits 50%. Then I slap a “site:wikipedia.org” or “site:yelp.com” at the end of my search (or something else, as appropriate).
    I don’t have time for that nonsense, and I don’t think I’m alone. To hell with those web developers who convince bands and restaurants that I like to put up those horrible, terrible, ghastly websites.
    End of rant. ahem.

    Reply

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